Written by

Chris Talbott

Associated Press

The criticism of Dr. Drew Pinsky spread almost as quickly as news of Mindy McCready’s death.

The 37-year-old country singer with the tumultuous home life became the fifth cast member of his “Celebrity Rehab” series to die since being on the show, and the deaths stirred up debate about the show’s helpfulness.

While many noted that Drew took on hard cases, others judged him harshly. Singer Richard Marx on Twitter compared Pinsky to Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the so-called suicide doctor: “Same results.”

Marx later backed off, tweeting, “What Dr. D does is exploitation and his TV track record is not good.”

VH1’s “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew” is not currently on the air. Pinsky switched his focus to non-celebrities in Season 6 last fall and changed the title to “Rehab.”

McCready, who died Sunday in Heber Springs, Ark., was a sympathetic character on the 2009 season, and appeared to be far less damaged than her fellow cast members. McCready suffered a seizure while on the show, further endearing her to Pinsky and the others. In 2010 she told She said in a 2010 interview with The Associated Press that she initially turned Pinsky down.

“But Dr. Drew said something to me that just mowed me over literally, just floored me,” she said. “He said, ‘You’ve been being treated for the symptoms of what’s wrong with you, not the problem. And you’re going to have to put your family aside for a moment, put their feelings aside for a moment and worry about you, because if you don’t get better, it doesn’t matter what your family thinks. You’re not going to be there anymore.’ ”

In an interview with The Associated Press several months after the show, Pinsky said McCready had a good shot at recovery if she remained in treatment. “Like with anybody I treat, it’s really up to them. I never know. If they do the work they’re supposed to do, yes (there can be success).”

Three years later, she’s dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot. She walked away from treatment several days ago after her father asked a judge to intervene.

“She is a lovely woman who will be missed by many,” the statement said. “ … Unfortunately it seems that Mindy did not sustain her treatment.”

Four others on the show also have died. Mike Starr, bassist for Alice in Chains, and Joey Kovar, a “Real World” participant, overdosed. Los Angeles riots spark Rodney King was found dead in his pool with alcohol and marijuana in his system. Actor Jeff Conaway died of pneumonia and infection.

Bob Forrest, a chemical dependency counselor who appeared on Season 3 of “Celebrity Rehab” and continues to works with Pinsky, said a discussion about mental health and substance abuse issues is important but attacking Pinsky has only distracted from the real issues.

“Regardless of your feelings about how we do it with the TV show, calling Dr. Drew ‘Dr. Kevorkian,’ what kind of dialogue is that?” he said. “It’s a good headline. We’re going through a growth spurt in regards to who we are as a country. I really feel there’s something going on in America beyond Mindy McCready’s death.”

The most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show there were 38,364 suicides in the U.S. in 2010. — an average of 105 a day. Thirty-three percent of suicides tested positive for alcohol in 2009 and 20 percent for opiates, including heroin and prescription painkillers.

Experts said there is no good data on suicides after rehab in part because treatment programs vary widely and it can be unclear if an overdose is intentional. But a patient with substance abuse problems is at higher risk for a suicide attempt.

Dr. Sharon Hirsch, an associate professor in the University of Chicago’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, says patients can get trapped in the yin and yang of addiction. She was not familiar with McCready’s case but noted that people abusing alcohol or drugs have lower impulse control. And their lows when they’re off drugs become more difficult to overcome, also lowering their resolve.

Pinsky’s shows drew attention to the struggle with addiction. But did they help patients?

“One of the key components of any treatment is to talk confidentially with your treatment provider about every aspect of what is going on with you,” said Dr. Sharon Hirsch, an associate professor in psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of Chicago. “I just don’t know how that could occur in the context of an internationally televised show.”